ASK TROOPER KEITH: Best to park in driveway, walk to mailbox

I received an email from a reader this week about getting mail while in your vehicle. To paraphrase the email, the reader lives on a rural road and was wondering if it is legal to drive to the left shoulder of the roadway in order to obtain their mail while still in the driver's seat.

Comment

By MSP Trooper Keith Disselkoen

Ionia Sentinel - Standard-Ionia, MI

By MSP Trooper Keith Disselkoen

Posted Jan. 4, 2013 at 11:42 PM
Updated Jan 4, 2013 at 11:45 PM

By MSP Trooper Keith Disselkoen

Posted Jan. 4, 2013 at 11:42 PM
Updated Jan 4, 2013 at 11:45 PM

MSP LAKEVIEW POST

I received an email from a reader this week about getting mail while in your vehicle. To paraphrase the email, the reader lives on a rural road and was wondering if it is legal to drive to the left shoulder of the roadway in order to obtain their mail while still in the driver's seat.

There are a couple different laws that come into play on this. I would assume that on the reader's rural road, there is no shoulder and a vehicle stopped to obtain mail would be impeding the normal flow of traffic, prohibited in MCL 257.676b(1):

"A person, without authority, shall not block, obstruct, impede, or otherwise interfere with the normal flow of vehicular or pedestrian traffic upon a public street or highway in this state, by means of a barricade, object, or device, or with his or her person. This section shall not apply to persons maintaining, rearranging, or constructing public utility facilities in or adjacent to a street or highway."

Even if there is a shoulder large enough for a vehicle, this practice is still prohibited because in order to get to the mailbox, the driver would be driving on the left side of the roadway which is prohibited in MCL 257.634(1)

"Upon each roadway of sufficient width, the driver of a vehicle shall drive the vehicle upon the right half of the roadway…"

There are some exceptions to this section such as passing or maneuvering around an obstruction, however, none of the exceptions are to get your mail from a mailbox. A good practice would be to park in your driveway and walk to your mailbox.

Keith Disselkoen is a Community Service Trooper for the MSP Lakeview Post. If you have a question for Trooper Disselkoen, email him at asktrooperkeith@gmail.com